The U. S.
Steel Facility in Ecorse, Michigan has three
decommissioned sediment retention basins that were constructed adjacent to
the facility on the banks of the
DetroitRiver. Material remaining
in the basins was a thick oily sludge that had accumulated over several
years of previous use. The oils from the sludge were found to be leaking
from the basins and entering the
DetroitRiver. U. S. Steel
contracted with Faust Corporation to characterize the material for disposal,
determine the volume of oily sediment within each basin and remove the
material using mechanical dredging methods.

We were required to enclose each basin with a silt
curtain with oil containment curtains and absorbent oil booms inside the
curtains.The sediment was removed
using barge mounted crane equipped with a clamshell bucket.The material was removed from the basins and loaded directly into
sediment scows for transportation downriver to the disposal facility at the
western end of Lake Erie.

UNIQUE
SOLUTIONS:

To prevent potential contamination of the river with
dredged sediments a drip pan system was developed to capture any sediment
that spilled from the clam shell bucket as it was swung to the scow.The system consisted of two large splash pans that would capture any
spilled material and redirect it either back into the basin or into the
sediment scows.